CAROLINA FAMILY ESTATE PLANNING

51 Kilmayne Dr., Suite 203

Cary, NC 27511

Phone: 919-443-3035

Fax: 919-324-6987

www.CarolinaFEP.com

BRIDGES A newsletter for Carolinians on transitioning family wealth, wisdom & values

May/June 2015

Carolina Family Estate Planning 51 Kilmayne Dr., Suite 203 Cary, NC 27511 919-443-3035 Carolinafep.com NCwillsandtrusts.com Facebook.com/carolinafep

Practice Areas:

Wills & Living Trusts

Asset Protection Trusts

Long Term Care Planning

Medicaid Planning & Qualification

Veteran’s Aid & Attendance Benefits

Children’s Safeguard Planning

Probate & Estate Administration

Trust Administration This publication is intended to educate the general public about estate planning, elder law, asset protection and related issues. It is not intended to be legal or tax advice. The information in this newsletter may be freely copied and distributed as long as the newsletter is copied in its entirety.

Nearly 25 million Americans are victims of fraud each year. Adults over age 65 are often the prime target. Trish Orr,

Aging Life Care Manager at Aging Outreach Services, will share tips to avoid common fraud schemes. Your neighbors and

family members are approached daily by telemarketers, internet offers, or repairmen to take advantage of a wonderful deal.

Protect yourself and your assets by understanding how schemes work, when to ask more questions, and what information

to never release. Don’t miss this important seminar on Tuesday, May 19th, 10 am in our office. RSVP today!

A note from Jackie! News from Carolina Family Estate Planning

Senior Scams! Save the Date! Senior Scams Seminar Tuesday, May 19th 10:00—11:30 am

CFEP Learning Center, RSVP: 919-443-3035 or Sign Up Online!

Greetings!

The first quarter of 2015 brought us weather challenges which meant rescheduled workshops and ap-

pointments. The good news is that we had a record number of attendees for all our workshops. Our

‘Frequently Asked Workshop Questions’ can be found on page 3. If you are thinking of attending or

re-attending one of our workshops, that will be a good place to start. Speaking of record numbers, we

also had the most referrals in the first quarter of 2015 than ever! Our referrals are important to us and we value clients,

partners, and friends that refer their family, friends and associates to us. First quarter referrals and our thank you is

listed on page 2. Our May/June workshop schedule is posted on page 3. Our next off-site workshop will be hosted by

Windsor Point on June 18. Please contact our office for further information on registering for any of these workshops.

Be sure to read our feature article, Estate Planning for Blended Families, on page 1. Blended families are now the

norm, but they do come with challenges. If you have further questions about estate planning for blended families,

please give our office a call.

Finally, it is a pleasure to serve you and help care for your family’s future!

In this Issue:

Pages 1 & 2

Estate Planning for Blended Families Thank You

Page 3

Workshop FAQs, Upcoming Workshops

Estate Planning for Blended Families

T imes have changed. In the new millennium,

blended families now outnumber traditional

nuclear families. In fact, one of three Ameri-

cans is now a stepparent, a stepchild, a step-

sibling, or some other member of a blended family*. And

the number is likely to grow, based on current statistics

and trends.

While most of us don’t live like Hollywood celebrities,

Hollywood trends often reflect magnified versions of cul-

tural trends. For example, when Kris Kardashian and

Bruce Jenner married in April 1991, they each had four

children from previous marriages. Kris had Kourtney,

Kim, Khloe and Robert from her marriage to the late

Robert Kardashian and Bruce had two children (son Burt

and daughter Casey) with his first wife Chrystie

Crownover and two sons (Brandon and Brody) from his

marriage to Linda Thompson. The reality show couple

later had two more children together — daughters Kend-

all and Kylie. If you’re keeping track, that’s a whopping

10 kids. Blended families, whether they include one, two

or ten children, face many unique social, psychological

and economic challenges.

The Challenges

Fortunately, there are numerous organizations and sup-

port groups dedicated to helping blended families with

these challenges. Unfortunately, little attention has been

paid to the critical estate planning challenges confronting

blended families. These challenges include disinheriting

your ex-spouse, providing for your new spouse and pro-

viding for your own children — and protecting their in-

heritance.

Your Ex-Spouse

Without proper legal planning, your ex-spouse (as surviv-

ing parent/guardian) would likely be appointed by the

probate court to manage the inheritance you leave to your

children. To make matters worse, what if your children

later predecease your ex-spouse and are single and child-

less at that time? Who would inherit your assets then?

That is right … your ex-spouse (as the next-of-kin of

your children). Continued on Page 2

Your New Spouse

Chances are you made a few solemn promises to your new

spouse on your wedding day. Among them were promises

to be there through thick and thin, personally and finan-

cially. Accordingly, most spouses in blended families tend

to blend their wealth, too. Warning: If you predecease

your new spouse, then you may forever disinherit your

own children from your share of such blended wealth!

Thereafter, upon the

death of your new

spouse, your assets

may be inherited by

your stepchildren, or

even by your new

spouse’s next spouse

and their children.

Your Own

Children

Whether children are

reared in a traditional

nuclear family or in a

blended family, great

care should be given to protect any inheritance both for

them. Wealth representing a lifetime of your hard work

and thrift can be squandered in very short order, or can

quickly vanish through divorces, lawsuits or bankruptcies.

Inheritance Protection

Want to make your estate planning heir tight? If so, you

should consider using a discretionary trust. As the name

implies, such a trust makes distributions only in the sole

Workshop Frequently Asked Questions

1. What will I learn at the workshop? Jackie touches on estate planning basics such as wills, trust, health care directives,

and powers of attorney. More importantly, you will learn the importance and the power of these documents and how they

work upon disability or death. She also spends time teaching you how to plan for the future and possible long-term care

costs. Jackie uses several stories during the workshop to help you uncover what planning goals are most important to you.

2. Why should I attend the workshop prior to meeting with Jackie? We find that when people attend a workshop be-

fore their initial meeting, it’s a much less overwhelming process. Rather than Jackie trying to teach you a lot of information

during the meeting, she can instead focus on helping you uncover your planning goals. We feel so strongly about workshop

attendance that we waive the initial consultation fee if you attend a workshop first.

3. Does my spouse have to attend with me or can I just relay the information that I learn? Jackie has a lot of infor-

mation packed into the workshop. We find that it is difficult for clients to relay the stories and their importance once they

leave our office. In the past, when we’ve worked with clients where only one spouse attended the workshop, we found that

the non-attending spouse was at a disadvantage during the planning process and were more likely to feel a bit over-

whelmed.

4. Do I need to bring anything? No, we will provide everything you need plus light refreshments.

5. How long is the workshop? Two hours. Don’t worry, the time flies by. Overwhelmingly, evaluations from past work-

shops have indicated that attendees found the workshop extremely informative and well worth the time invested.

6. Can I bring a friend and/or family member? Yes of course! We encourage you to bring along anyone on your team.

Due to limited seating, we just ask that you register each attendee so we can ensure enough seats for all attendees.

7. How much does it cost? It is free! We think it is very important to educate our community and this is one of the many

ways that we do this. Feel free to browse our free materials and information on our website or at our Learning Center while

you are in our office as well.

8. What’s next? Once you have attended the workshop our office will follow up with you to discuss your initial consultation

with Jackie and see if it is appropriate to schedule an appointment to explore how we can assist you.

You Go Out of Your Way to Care and Provide for Your Family…

But Have You Protected Them If Something Happens to You?

Carolina Family Estate Planning’s Free Workshops—Four Dates to Choose From!

Carolina Estate Planning Learning Center: 51 Kilmayne Dr., Suite 203, Cary, NC 27511

The most important document that everyone needs

How to protect your family from lawsuits, creditors,

divorce, remarriage and similar concerns

Strategies to have the advantage in tax & probate issues

Steps you can take now to save $$$ in costs later

How to protect your home & assets from long-term care costs

How to make sure your spouse or children are not left

financially ruined if you need nursing home care

Recent US Supreme Court case that puts the future of

your IRAs at risk

How to provide for minor children or grandchildren

Thursday, May 14th —6:30-8:30 pm & Thursday, May 28th—10:00 am—Noon

or Thursday, June 11th & Tuesday, June 23rd — 6:30-8:30 pm

You’ve spent a lifetime building your savings & taking care of your family, but what would happen if you fall ill or pass away?

Join us for this free workshop to make sure you’ve protected them and discover:

These free workshops fill up quickly — Registration Required! Signup online or Call!

Register Online (see all our workshop dates): http://www.carolinafep.com/library/events/

Call Today: 919-443-3035

We invest 100% of our time and energy to delivering

first-class service to our clients. As a result, our valued

clients, partners, and friends refer their family, friends and

associates to us. We’d like to take a moment to thank these

individuals:

Thank you for introducing your friends &

family to our office!

Visit and “LIKE” our Facebook Page!

Once we reach 300 “likes” we will raffle

off a gift basket!

www.facebook.com/CarolinaFEP

BrightStar Care of Cary

Kenn Buckner

Cambridge Village of

Apex

Carolina Preserve

Cary Newcomers

Cary Senior Center

Lorraine Davis

Maureen Davis

Tyler Dean

Tom Gervase

Jason Jonczak

Jordan Oaks Retirement

Ed Kenney

Barbara Kingrey

John McAuley

James Mertens

Outreach Magazine

Final Thoughts

This has been a very cursory examination of a very com-

plex subject. Contact our office to further discuss finan-

cial and legal strategies to overcome blended family chal-

lenges.

*Source: www.winningstepfamilies.com

We hope this information has helped you better under-

stand the value of proper estate planning. If you have

any questions or concerns, please contact our office at

(919) 443-3035 or visit us at www.carolinafep.com.

and absolute discretion of the Trustee. The key to a suc-

cessful discretionary trust is selecting and entrusting an

appropriate Trustee with broad discretionary authority to

protect your wealth for (and from) your heirs. The non-

fiduciary position of Trust Protector can be created to

appoint and even remove such a Trustee to ensure fulfill-

ment of your objectives. As such, the Trust Protector

serves as an ongoing Guardian Angel.

Phillip Passey

Resources for Seniors

Michael Richards, MD

Alice Roye

Nancy Ruffner

Greg Sieber

Sunrise Senior Living

Scott Swift

Dan Thomason

Town of Apex

Drew Turner

Lauren Watral

Rick White

Terry Wiles

Bradford Wilson

Woodland Terrace